The Appling County Pirates (33-2) advanced to the State Championship with two wins over fellow Region 2AA foe Brantley County (20-13) on May 21. The Pirates won the first game 11-1 in five innings and the Pirates would win the second game 12-6 to advance to their first ever state championship. The Pirates will host Region 2AA second seed Pierce County Bears (29-7) in the State Championship series.

The Championship series will start with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 26 beginning at 4:00 p.m. and continue to game three on Monday, May 28 if needed. Visit The Baxley News-Banner’s Facebook page for updates.

Final Four Game One

The Pirates were able to get great pitching from starter Byron Buxton who pitched all five innings allowing only one run. The Pirate hitters would score one run in the first inning and five in the second to jump out to an early 6-1 lead. The Pirates would put the game away in the bottom of the fifth inning with Kyle Miller’s second straight game winning hit, a single to score Buxton to give the Pirates the 11-1 victory.

Final Four Game Two

The Pirates would have junior Josh Deen start the game but would fall behind 2-3 after the first inning. The Blue Herons would add another run in the second to make the score 2-4. The Pirates would take the lead back in the fourth inning with four runs to make the score 6-5. The Pirates would add two more runs in the sixth to make the score 8-6. Buxton would hit his second triple of the game in the top of the seventh as the Pirates would build a 12-6 advantage. The Pirates would get the final three outs to preserve the win.

Pirates advance to Final Four with Two Dramatic Wins

The Appling County Pirates and the Blessed Trinity Titans (26-6) went head-to head in a “best of three” series. The series would put the current ranked number one (Appling) against the current number two (Blessed Trinity). The games would live up to the billing with both games going down to the last at bat. The Pirates won the first game 5-4 in the bottom of eighth on a walk-off single by Jeremy Ammons. The Pirates won game two in dramatic fashion as well. Kyle Miller belted a two-run homer with the game tied at one in the top of the seventh to propel the Pirates to victory.

Elite Eight Game One

Byron Buxton would toe the rubber in the first game of the series on Tuesday afternoon. Blessed Trinity would strike first in the top half of the first on a two-run homerun by the Titan first baseman.

The Titans held the lead just a short time as the Pirates pushed two runs across in the bottom of the second inning. After one out, Gage Patton singled, Devin Causey doubled down the line in left field to move Patton to third. Patton would score on a wild pitch moving Causey to third. Guner Sellers drove the run home with a ground out to the infield. Score was tied 2-2 after two innings of play.

The Pirates went ahead by two runs in the third inning on a two-run homerun by Buxton, his third of the season. The Pirates held the Titans scoreless until the fifth. The Titans scratched two runs to tie the game at four.

The game would go scoreless until the bottom of the eighth inning. After one out, Buxton reached on an infield hit. Buxton stole second. Next batter Jeremy Ammons hit a ball past the Titan first baseman for a single. Buxton scored easily from second to win the game for the Pirates.

Elite Eight Game 2

Game two started shortly after game one but was interrupted by a thunderstorm. The game was tied at one in the fourth inning. The game would have to be played the following day due to the heavy rains. The game would start over from the beginning on Wednesday.

Josh Deen had pitched the three plus innings of the rain washed game on Tuesday would again get the call for the official game two on Wednesday. Deen would pitch six innings, allowing only three hits and one run.

The Pirates were the visiting team in the game. The Pirates struck first scoring one run in the top of the first.

Buxton walked, then advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt. A balk on the Titan pitcher moved Buxton to third with one out. Josh Barber delivered an RBI single to drive home Buxton.

The Pirates took the one run lead into the bottom of fifth. They scored on a single after an error by the defense.

The game remained scoreless until the top of the seventh inning.

After Buxton flied out, Jeremy Ammons scorched a double down the left field line. The go ahead run stood at second with only one out. Josh Barber popped up to the infield to for the second out. After a pitching change, Kyle Miller stepped to plate with the chance to be the hero. Miller delivered on the first pitch he saw, belting a two-run homerun over the left field fence.

The Pirates would call on Byron Buxton to get the final three outs of the series and seal their Final Four berth. Buxton got the Titans out three up three down to get the save.

The Pirates advance to the Final Four for the second year in a row. Last year they were defeated in two games by the eventual state champion Buford Wolves.

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